Ally Pally spring 2012 here we come!!

No more sleeps!

Today we head up to Alexandra Palace for the great Big Stamping and Scrapbooking show. This year, as Lin from LB Crafts has retired we have her spot at the show, and she will be there with us as our chief demonstrator...so it will be just like old times for both of us.

It's been many years since we exhibiting at Ally Pally, so we are really looking forward to it!

Hope to see you there either today or tomorrow!

Leandra

Version Scrap {2012} -EPIC

So much activity here the 2 weeks before the Version Scrap show in Paris which was the weekend before Easter. This is our 6th year attending this show - initially to teach, and for the last 3 years as exhibitors. We love a long weekend in Paris, and we had 8 staff working the stand with us this year to ensure the whole event ran smoothly. This year we stayed at a funky hotel near the Bastille, and the pics above show (kind of) are the dimensional tiles decorating the walls of the Bastille Metro station. 

Couldn't get enough of these flowers at the show - I bought a whole bag full, and a great prices too! Version Scrap has very long show hours (9am-7pm) for 3 days, and the day before the show opens (build up day) in the evening the stands have to be ready to open for a VIP-entry session from 6.30-9.30pm. I have yet to figure out how to get VIP tickets to give away - every year we ask, and every year we get nada, but we still sell loads of stock on the night! So someone must be giving them away!  We had the lovely Donna Downey demo on our stand - a real crowd pleaser!

From L-R: Donna Downey (talented designer and hilarious demonstrator, and very good at sharing her teaching space - another story!), Dounia (translator, and PHD student in Archaelogical Chemistry - brainiest on the stand!), Sally (aka StampSally - translator and long-time customer and all round crazy Brit living in France), Leandra & Lin.

 Crowds gathering as word spread Donna is getting out her Pan Pastels on the PaperArtsy Stand.

And before you know it we are mobbed - lady in the pink top is Madeleine, our make and take co-ordinator who does a mighty fine job of teaching the ladies with our newest products and ideas.

So here is the stand almost ready at the end of an 11 hour build up from 7am on only 3 hrs sleep the night before. Behind Paul is the demo desk area, and that is the half-way point of the stand, the orange carpet is all our space. And below, an already tired Lin waiting for the VIP onslaught to commence for 3 hrs of demoing - this is an EPIC way to start a show!!

As well as exhibiting, Leandra taught 2 different three hour classes (a students' projects below left, and the other picture to the right is ready for the layout items to be dropped on top of the background). We offer a constantly changing Make and Takes programme on the stand with a different project every 2 hours...here is Paul (from Go Create) above right with queues of ladies waiting to do his session, and sporting a t-shirt that is somewhat borderline attire for a French show! Cheeky chappie.

Madeleine runs the make and take for the whole show with help from Paul and Dounia. Audrey, as well as helping Mark on the till, took sign ups for Make and Take, and was our chief shop-lifter spotter - she accosted and then made them pay, and then handed them over to security. We were all impressed, as she was physically the smallest on the stand!

This lovely lady came all the way from Italy to the show, and is a big PaperArtsy fan. Look closely at her arms!! She went to a crop, and the mother of the lady running the crop made removable 'sleeves' for all the participants to wear. They are so comfortable, and a brilliant way to not get paint all over yourself when creating!! I *need* a pair!

Mark always manages to sneak off next door to the farmers' market to partake in a typical French lunch. In this case, roti chicken stuffed with seasonal stuffing, fresh salad, and amazing gratin potatoes. Plus the obligatory vino. He was most amused by the rabbit dissection. With eyes intact. Quite unnerving. And he always buys loads of jams to last us the year ahead.

And a trip to France isn't complete without a spot of flambe! Lin and I both scoffed this dessert on Sunday night. Kirsch-tastic.

One can only say the NEC and other exhibition venues in the UK have a LOT to learn regarding food options for lunch. Who could say no to a sit down plate of stunning food with beer or wine! How civilised! And right up my alley!

So the fave booth of the show for Lin and I went to 'Scrapbuttons' Funny thing was, as we were oohing and ahhing over their booth, they arrived back with a PaperArtsy shopping bag having just reciprocated on our stand ... I know @ladybugNina will love the mustache - that picie is just for her! and we are loving the multi-layer badge idea!! @Mr_PaperArtsy is already testing that idea out on his badges! Baskets of badges in Fabric, paper, and so much more. Awesome!

And the next favourite had all these findings - a lot of the same stuff as beadtime, but more filigree and cabochon stuff, clock faces, cameos .... and some wicked printed fau leather ephemera items....and the dolls....i don't get the dolls...but they were on this stand too....what do you do with them????

Because I worked out a schedule to ensure we all got lunch this year, Lin and I were much more focused on shopping in Paris this year! Craft shopping. Usually when we go to shows we are not that bothered about buying loads of stuff, but this year, there seemed to be lots of new products that we just had to have...like fabric, flowers, wood buttons, vintage printed felt, printed tiles.... and the most amazing artwork on the stands too.

We both forgot to get back to the lady who does plaster castings of really cool vintage stuff. *Slaps forehead* (pics above and below) she was our favorite stand last year....

They certainly have a knack of displaying stuff beautifully on their stands. Above right is a washi tape piece of art, and above left could be right out of a Cath Kidston shop! We both hammered the washi tape stand.....OMG you should have seen the designs...even a London Underground map roll of washi tape.... no I didn't buy that as it was uber expensive, and i had no idea how i would use it - well i had no time to THINK about how i MIGHT use it.....

This year they had a massive exhibition of 1metre x 1 metre scrap pages! Here is Lin next to one just to prove they really are that big!

 

Back to shopping....this display is from a hardware store hidden in Paris that Sally showed us on Monday, and to the right is a display of gift bags/boxes in a store that is a bit like HobbyCrafts only nicer. Why can't they do that here?

Eggs. chocolate. errr YES!!

...amazing chocolate displays.....

...love these eggs...you should have seen the look on the kids faces...thought i was giving them hard boiled eggs this weekend....but of course inside is amazing layers of chocolate, ganache and mmmmmmm delish......

Oh, and despite having a very tiring, but fantastic time in Paris, we did have our little drama 2 hrs before leaving the UK! In true Franich style Hugo broke his arm at school (well another child broke Hugo's arm - not intentionally of course) requiring Mr PA to take him to A&E for X-ray etc just as we were about to leave....well as we were running a bit behind it did give me a couple of hours extra to pack more last minute things....but we did forget the make and take desk...we managed to improvise at the show....He' still hurting quite a lot, but the chocolate eggs provided a good distraction....

Well as it is only 3 sleeps till Ally Pally build up I need to shake a leg and get ready. A big delivery just arrived with more new goodies just released from CHA, so do drop by to see us at The big Stamping and Scrapbooking Show, Alexandra palace, London, Sat/ Sunday this coming weekend. We are stand 46 - the spot that LB Crafts used to have is now the PaperArtsy spot!!

See you there!

Leandra

ArtsyCrafts {June 2012}

So much has happened already here this year with shows, trade shows, and now it's time to look forward to ArtsyCrafts already! Ohhh how exciting

We have got 2 classes done and dusted, the 3rd is still a work in progress...but the description gives you a pretty clear idea about where it is heading. Lin and I are both so excited about all of these classes.

They are 3 entirely different projects, and to suit all budgets and interests, you can book, 1, 2 or all 3 days. If it were me I would want to do them all, but then i always say that! That's not very helpful is it!

So before you book anything make sure you read all the info here about cancellation policies, accommodation, facilities, what to bring, class times, venue etc etc

Then if you click here, you can see each of the 3 classes and you can add them to your 'shopping basket' to book for them. If you click on the picture then you will see the class description. Here is a summary of each class: 

FRIDAY: A fabric meandering book, although you could easily do this as a wall hanging if you prefer. Layers of fabric, lace, ribbon, and some wicked image transfer ideas, how about some soldered holes into gauze, and we have found all sorts of cool stuff to work with. We adored creating this class, quite a new medium for us but so easy to adapt to, and a clean tidy class! You don't need to be a machine sewer by the way!!! In fact it's an advantage NOT to be good on the machine! 

SATURDAY: A double hinged niche for the altered, painty people who like to fiddle and faff and arrange - this class has a sewing theme with lots of fun elements that will surprise you along the way. We have some gorgeous fun elements to put into these niches, new PaperArtsy products, and its very painty, but there will be the opportunity to work with fabric and metal - don't panic... nothing too difficult! We also have metal, clay, threads, mica sheets, metal charms and more in this class!!! 

SUNDAY: The rusty relic. You will have to book this class based on the description for now, but pictures will be available at the start of April. Think stamps and images transferred onto clay, gilding flakes, rust, distressed metal, mica sheets, wire, mesh and much much more! I am really looking forward to this. We have so many great ideas for this class, and I think its going to emerge into a little beauty of a relic!

I know people are always amazed at how we provide everything for you to use, and healthy quantities of everything too! We do it this way so you don't have to wait to use supplies, you can just get on with it. It also means for those flying in from overseas that they don't have to bring a load of stuff with them. When I teach elsewhere, people are often given a massive supply list of things to bring to class, and the teachers generally provide the bare minimum. We generally want you to bring as little as possible so you can kick back and enjoy.

As we have not got the massive expense of international guest teachers this time round, we have been able to drop the class fee considerably. We try to organise the event so that the fee covers room hire, your meals, tea break and snacks, class kits/supplies, and that is about it. In other words, what you pay to us is what we pay out in expenses to run the event. So I think you will be happy to know the classes are £100 ea (incl VAT) for Friday and Saturday. Sunday, which finishes at 6pm instead of 9.00pm is £75 (incl VAT)

Booking opens Monday evening, March 12th. Just go here, and add the class(es) you wish to book for to your shopping basket. You will get paperwork confirmation sent out by return.


But before you pay, just one small request....

Because we have a tight operational budget, please can we ask when you pay, don't use paypal. The fees are so high compared to worldpay or secureform, which are both alternative and equally safe ways to communicate your credit card details to us. For example, we can pay up to 8% of the transaction value or more to paypal (£22 per person if they book all 3 classes), and only 1.7% (£4.67) with worldpay, or even better, if you use a debit card, it might be as little as 30 pence fee per transaction. With paypal it's frustrating for us to pay £20 or more in fees per person, plus don't forget another 20% goes to the government for vat (£75 if you booked all 3 classes). So if we can remove paypal out of the equation, it means we don't have to find that 'lost' money from other aspects of the budget (class supplies!) I normally don't explain this to you guys, but if you understand why we ask you not to use paypal, we hope you will be more than happy to use worldpay or secureform instead. Ultimately it means we have more funds to spend on YOU for use in class kits or class supplies. 

As a long time merchant with paypal we do have some of the better rates with them, but this can change from month to month depending on the volume of funds going through our paypal account. If you are not a merchant with paypal yourself, you are probably blissfully unaware of the cost of receiving funds. We only offer it because it is an easy way for international customers to pay for their orders.  But obviously we would rather all our regular customers used one of the other methods we offer instead.


Thanks we do appreciate your understanding with this.


So roll on June, and we hope to see you all there with buttons, lace and all your rusty bits! 

If you can't make it to Warrington, then you are going to have to wait a whole year for ArtsyCrafts 2013, which will probably be in Newport Pagnell, unless general feedback demands it stays at Warrington.


Have a great week


Leandra

stitches {2012}

It only seems like a blink since the trade show last year, and here we are again, starting over with another round of vibrant, brand-new products to kick off 2012.

Trade shows are awesome, you get to see all the craft suppliers in one place releasing all their newest goodies. It's a good way of judging what is going to be big this year, and my money is on fabric! Lots of our suppliers have added fabric to match their paper, brads, buttons and more. We adore! No consistency of design style could be seen, it was a variety of bright-funky-crisp, some muted-dusky-vintage, but I love fabric however it comes! Quilting is where I started way back pre-kids - I always used to sew my own clothes thru high school and uni.... so mixing fabric with paper-crafting is right up my street! Go grab yourself a cheap sewing machine and let's do this! It's much easier than you might expect. And straight lines are a big no, no. So no expectations for competency at all in this lark! Ironic that Lin and I are coincidentally on a fabric kick for this June's ArtsyCrafts, but what brilliant timing as there are so many cool things we can incorporate into our June classes. Lucky for us and you!

This is our huge acrylic topped cardboard desk, with recent art samples loitering underneath. Love this desk!

Here is how our booth/stand looked the last few days. We generally cause a bit of a stir with our red cardboard creation. Its a product specifically designed for trade shows, we have been using it for several years now, you cna paint it paper it...whatever you wish. Its cheap, portable and looks so much better than racks! As it was raining heavily when we arrived, we kind of thought it might turn to mush - but I found some muslin and thin plastic on the floor, and we made it inside with no dramas!

New of course are the additional 24 paints which now have a fancy schmancy double height acrylic display rack - very POSH, and shows off all the colours perfectly! Light, medium, dark and super-dark shades in 10 paint families. Plus 4 glazes, black, white, gold, silver.

We also have another 4 stamps coming from Lynne Perrella, they won't be shipping for at least a month, but they will be closely followed by another 4!!! Even though we go to a trade show, we continue to add new things to our lines throughout the year, and we still have more new spring releases to come!! Schtumm for now though.

We have 9 new Hot Picks. Can you believe it was April 2010 that we launched these designs. 2 years on and we still release a design a month, although at times like this when we release a batch in advance we get ahead of ourselves. They are so popular - Mr PA does a grand job. I adore the new fishy themed ones. And the flowers are always useful for so many situations. The large bottles will be a fabulous element to add to any project. And with the London Olympics site only being a 12 minute train ride from PA HQ, we have added some plates with London elements to the collection too.

We also have 10 Vintage (Ink and the Dog) collection stamps available. If you haven't caught up with the update, we launched PaperArtsy with Ink and the Dog in 2003. This was pre-distress ink days! Can you imagine!! We are now cherry picking our favourite images from this collection, making them larger, as they were originally designed for ATC art, and re-formatting them onto A5 sheets. Once this process is complete, the small A6 plates will be discontinued. Our iconic Ink and the Dog line still has huge part to play in the enduring vintage trend, and with over 130 plates in the collection, it really is time to prune it back to a more manageable size for retailers with the most desirable images on one plate.

Each day of the show I taught to sold out classes of retailers. They made a fresco paint technique sampler to put on the wall in their shop next to their paint rack- they seemed thrilled with that idea and 6 painty tags in 45 mins was kicking some serious paint butt along the way!! We got finished 2 of the 3 days, so the girls (and boys) did good!! They did squirm when I said "no cleaning allowed" for 45 mins tho!! Mwahahaha ha ha.

So there you have it, the trade show is over, and we are shipping out orders from today!! Speedy huh! If you are a retailer and didn't make it to the show, all our show offers are online now in the wholesale website and available until March 11th. Contact me for details if you need more info. Sales@paperartsy.co.uk or phone 01277 212911

Lastly a big thanks to Lin who came and helped us write orders for the 3 days of the show. Her retail advise to other shops on our stand was invaluable for them and us, and she was a whizz with Mark's amazing iPad ordering app that impressed many. We so totes tek-o-noj-i-cal us Essex folk!! Lots of well jell exhibitors! LOL

For those of you wondering when all the new stuff will be on our retail site-I'm guessing 3 weeks. In the meantime, go to your local stamp store - we start shipping today!